In thinking and having a few brief conversations, I would like to throw the following idea out there for some thought and feedback by the Exploratory Task Force:
“What if we were to offer Exploratory for some kids on Tuesday/Thursday and Exploratory for others on Monday/Wednesday? What might be the benefits and drawbacks?”
Since I’ll be out on Thursday, I’ve put down some initial thoughts that have come up in conversations in case this is something that the task force decides to take up at this week’s meeting.
• Would allow non-Advisory teachers (currently those who teach PE, Chinese, Tech, and Library) to offer exploratories to both sets of students (i.e. four days a week instead of two)
• Because more teachers would be offering exploratories, this may help facilitate smaller class sizes or the 3 out of 4 for a greater variety of teachers.
• Some PE, Chinese, Tech, and Library faculty might opt to do one advisory and one exploratory freeing up others to opt to do full-time exploratory.
• Could focus on our most popular exploratory offerings (offer them to both sets of kids) instead of grasping to figure out what the 36th exploratory offering could be that would appeal to kids.
Drawbacks
• Less selection of courses (i.e. kids in Monday/Wednesday Exploratories would only get to choose from 22 instead of 35 exploratories)
• Potential for Exploratory burn-out for those who are teaching exploratory 4 days a week - especially for high maintenance exploratories.
• Separating may lead to issues that have come up with RED/GOLD separations
• Might make sign-ups more complicated
• May impose on the ability to have fun day activities with advisories due to facilities limitations
Questions to consider:
• How would this enhance the experience for our students?
• How would we decide how to split the groups in two? 6th one day and 7th/8th the other? Red/Gold split? Maybe one way for the first semester and the other way for second semester?
• How might the split affect our advisory program?
“What if we were to offer Exploratory for some kids on Tuesday/Thursday and Exploratory for others on Monday/Wednesday? What might be the benefits and drawbacks?”
Since I’ll be out on Thursday, I’ve put down some initial thoughts that have come up in conversations in case this is something that the task force decides to take up at this week’s meeting.
Benefits
• Might alleviate facilities concerns for athletic & cooking exploratories
• Would allow non-Advisory teachers (currently those who teach PE, Chinese, Tech, and Library) to offer exploratories to both sets of students (i.e. four days a week instead of two)
• Because more teachers would be offering exploratories, this may help facilitate smaller class sizes or the 3 out of 4 for a greater variety of teachers.
• Some PE, Chinese, Tech, and Library faculty might opt to do one advisory and one exploratory freeing up others to opt to do full-time exploratory.
• Could focus on our most popular exploratory offerings (offer them to both sets of kids) instead of grasping to figure out what the 36th exploratory offering could be that would appeal to kids.
Drawbacks
• Less selection of courses (i.e. kids in Monday/Wednesday Exploratories would only get to choose from 22 instead of 35 exploratories)
• Potential for Exploratory burn-out for those who are teaching exploratory 4 days a week - especially for high maintenance exploratories.
• Separating may lead to issues that have come up with RED/GOLD separations
• Might make sign-ups more complicated
• May impose on the ability to have fun day activities with advisories due to facilities limitations
Questions to consider:
• How would this enhance the experience for our students?
• How would we decide how to split the groups in two? 6th one day and 7th/8th the other? Red/Gold split? Maybe one way for the first semester and the other way for second semester?
• How might the split affect our advisory program?